Do you believe in fortune? Do you believe in ghosts? Do you believe in magic (real magic, not illusion)? Do you believe that some people can predict the future with their supernatural gifts? Or do you think that all fortune tellers are scam artists?

Too many questions and the answers to them don’t really matter, or do they?
What matters in your life is what you do. What you think or what you believe in affect what you do. So I guess this topic is worth commenting.

Many people believe in those things, they do listen to fortune tellers and in most cases that doesn’t bring them any real benefits other than some short term placebo effect.

So lets try to figure out why people tend to believe fortune tellers rather than do something that would matter for them and bring them real benefits.

When people seek help from fortune tellers?
Usually people go to fortune tellers when they are scared or desperate. People who are worried about what they are doing and need reassurance and people who have big problems and most likely suffer huge pain are probably 90%+ of those who seek such help. The business of the fortune teller is to take advantage of those emotions and give their clients a sense of security. trust, some confidence, relief and hope.

Most fortune-tellers don’t have the abilities they pretend to have.
I’m using the word “most” and not the word “all” because I leave the door open for who knows rare examples of people who may really have “abilities”. But the fact is that most fortune tellers are scam artists, even though some of them really do believe they are “special”, but as you know the line between “special” and “crazy” is really thin. They are great psychologist, we have to give them that, and they have great abilities to fool people and exploit weak minds.

Why do people trust fake phenomenons?
1. It’s easier. When they are scared or desperate most people don’t think well. It’s in humans DNA to look for the easiest pain killer or satisfaction tool despite having minor and short term effect. It’s easier to believe that your problem is in your destiny or that you are dealing with black magic than taking real actions. This way you don’t have to make it complicated and you just accept what the fortune teller is telling you. Unfortunately your real problems are not solved even a bit.

2. They want someone else to make decisions instead of them. When you are weak insecure person you don’t make easy decisions and the opportunity to seek the help of someone who can predict the future may seem tempting.

3. They believe they are dealing with something beyond their powers. As humans we want to believe that there are things beyond our power who control our lives. That’s why there are the religion, the believe in God and the defined destiny. The way people establish connection with God is through the priests and the church (or the equivalents in other religions) and the way they establish connection with their future and destiny is through the clairvoyants.

4. They don’t know their real problems. And even if they know them they have no idea how to solve them. What you think is happening with your life is not always correct. Many times the real problems are hidden beyond what is obvious. If you believe you always have bad luck you tend to blame your destiny more than it deserves.

5. Need of straight answers. Again people don’t like complicated stuff. When they have to learn, think, analyze and deal with variable, they feel overwhelmed and insecure, especially when they don’t know what they are doing. If someone is giving them straight answer/advice for something, even if it’s not backed up at all, they tend to listen to it because it’s a lot easier to consume.

6. Lack of intelligence. All those previous points lead to the most obvious one. Most people are stupid. Rather than do something that would really matter they do something stupid that they believe matters more. The fact is that most people who have hit rock bottom don’t get their lives improved after consulting with fortune tellers.

The short pressure relief and the need to hear something that will make you feel better is good enough reason for dumb people to spend their money. It’s a effective way to escape the hard reality for moment. When you have something beyond your powers to blame for your problems, it’s easier for you to get used to them and get some comfort. Unfortunately your problems are still there and no crystal ball is going to solve them.

I’ll end the article with something that professional magicians say about people and magic. They know it is an illusion, but the fear of the illusion is real.
Think about it.

Fortune-telling is completely untrue and contradicts every idea of Islam. One of the major sins is believing in and going to fortune-tellers for advice in Islam as it is complete deception and shirk (the greatest of all sins). I would suggest reading this https://islamqa.info/en/32863